Air Force One Down

The acting was terrible. The writing was terrible. There was not even an attempt to get right such details as military customs and courtesies. Anyone who worked on this as a military or technical advisor should be fired and never work on a movie or TV show again. I had to fast forward through large parts of the film to not fall asleep. Relative to any of the "White House Down"/"...Fallen" movies, this makes those look like the Godfather Part 2. How the hell did this get greenlit? Are you telling me there was no more deserving script available? This was like weak fan fic written by someone who hasn't even bothered to watch West Wing, much less understand the technologies and security mechanisms necessary to electronically control AF1. And a rag tag bunch of thugs from (insert Eastern European country here) a fake country with terrible accents can just smuggle guns on AF1 and overwhelm the home team which knows every inch of the craft in a matter of seconds? Do not waste your time. Seriously. Just awful. The amount of belief that had to be suspended in order for this script to be plausible was so large that you're more likely to win 5 Powerball jackpots in a row than for this garbage to happen. Booooo.

We get it. Empowering women and showing they can do all what men can and more is a trendy concept these last years, apparently educating people about this is more important than making a good story. Some great movies pull that off well, like like I Spit on your Grave, Kill Bill or Revenge. This one however comes off as so ridiculously unrealistic it just becomes annoying.

The heroines inability to lose reminds me of the cartoon Roadrunner, where the coyote keeps failing at getting his prey. At first it is amusing, then it just becomes annoying and finally you just hope he gets his meal, as he is the real underdog you end up rooting for.

With her toothpick arms she can throw huge top trained bodybuilders around with ease. Where is the thrill when she will ALWAYS win no matter the circumstances? The only way she could lose is if she fights a minority person or another woman, which makes everything it so predictable it almost hurts. And the plot holes are so dense there is basically no plot just holes.

If you get a kick out of seeing skinny women predictably beat up large muscular men without any effort over and over, this might be for you. If you want a good movie that makes you root for the beat down hero who is clawing through pain and challenges against all odds and make you keep guessing what will happen next on the edge of your seat, then dont waste your time here. You have seen this movie too many times already.

Alison Miles (Katherine McNamara) is young and untested Secret Service agent serving under her uncle and mentor Agent Sam "Uncle Sam" Waitman (Anthony Michael Hall). As President Dallas Edwards (Ian Bohen) prepares to depart for the Eastern European nation of Astovia broker an oil deal with the nation's President, disgraced Astovian General and former leader of Astovia Azem Rodninov (Rade Serbedzija) initiates a plan to seize control of Air Force One and kidnap President Edwards with Agent Miles now the only one who can save him.

Yet another film from producer Steven Paul and Paramount's revived Republic Pictures label, Air Force One Down sees Paul diving into the direct-to-video action well once again after gracing audiences with The Painter earlier this year. Air Force One Down is more enjoyable than the Painter thanks largely to being shorter and less plodding, but it's also a not all that competent retreat on action formula that despite Paul's promise of delivering a "new twist" is more or less of the standard you see in direct-to-video trash lining the bottom shelf of Blockbuster during the 90s and 2000s.

Watching Air Force One Down it's pretty clear from the opening that starts with Allison partaking in sparring matches to establishing shots of DC and text identifying names and positions of characters that Air Force One Down owes a massive debt to Millennium Media's Fallen series of films that star Gerard Butler. While I'll admit I enjoy the occasional Millennium film, even the most ardent defenders can't deny films like The Expendables or Olympus Has Fallen are basically supped up versions of direct-to-video action templates from the company's early days that are redressed with bigger star names and a slightly larger scale. While Steven Paul is clearly trying to capture that same aesthetic Millennium films have, he clearly doesn't have the means or resources to do so.

The feature directorial debut of veteran stunt coordinator James Bamford I'll say that at least Bamford knows how to keep things moving with a brisk pace, but the action is also quite clumsily staged at points and can veer into unintended humor such as how henchmen during gunfights seem to forget how their guns are supposed to work and instead rush Agent Miles while carrying their AK-47s rather than actually shooting them. Katherine McNamara lacks the hardened edge you'd expect of a character in this role (but she's agile and at least can move during the very silly action sequences) and her exchanges with Anthony Michael Hall's "Uncle Sam" did amuse me with how much they failed to be endearing, especially with how producer Steven Paul who serves as the writer must've felt so proud of that "Uncle Sam" play on words given that it's revisited more than once until Anthony Michael Hall exits the movie unceremoniously at the half-way point.

Going into a movie like this, you pretty much know it's going to be bad given all the warning signs involved, but at least unlike The Painter from earlier this year it moves quickly enough that you can have a cheap laugh at its expense if you're so inclined. Otherwise: Just stick with Air Force One, Olympus Has Fallen, or White House Down for your "save the President" fix.

This could have been a much better movie if a tiny bit of realism had been applied. There is no way on earth that the pilot of Air Force one would not have a Secret Service detail posted at his house and himself.

There is no way on earth that with just one phone call (calling in sick) a replacement pilot would be put on the flight without rigorous Secret Service checks and double and triple checks before clearance.

There is no way on earth so many weapons could be smuggled onto Air Force One, even if the terrorists had someone very close to the POTUS.

Other than that, the movie was ok I suppose. I generally like movies with female butt-kicking leads.

Gotta give credit to the kids who made this film with the budget they had, which was probably equivalent to a summer long work of mowing lawns. I mean with just an iPhone they were able to make a quite a convincing film.

If they had a bit more budget, this might've made the blockbusters. But with what they had, it is quite a decent job. A few pointers for improvement:

• fight scenes are well choreographed but way too slow. It looks like they were playing patty cake.

• might want to add airplane sounds when you are on Airforce One, else it just looks like it is filmed in a building.

• Best actor is definitely the general, give him a bonus.

• Plot needs work. Why did the bad guys kill all the secret service on sight except for those which fit the plot? Why did they keep the main character alive all this time for?

Anyways, good job. You did the best with what you've got.

4/10.